Tag: TJ Wilson

AJ Styles visits Florida wrestling school, Nattie’s Dungeon

Posted on by Joseph Currier

AJ Styles spent some time this week passing on his knowledge to the next generation.

The 48-year-old Styles visited Fight the World Wrestling Academy, which is located in Florida and run by NWA wrestlers Bryan Idol, Natalia Markova, and Mike Mondo. He later stopped by Natalya & TJ Wilson’s Dungeon on Wednesday to help out during a training session.

“Most people never even get CLOSE to a ring…our students are learning directly from people who’ve main-evented WrestleMania, traveled the world, and actually lived this business,” FTW Academy posted. “Thank you to The Phenomenal One AJ Styles for a great class! See you again soon.”

Wednesday was Natalya’s 44th birthday, and she said Styles’ visit was the best gift she could have gotten. She and her husband Wilson (Tyson Kidd) hold weekly, invite-only training sessions in their ring at no cost to those who attend.

“I had the most PHENOMENAL birthday today sweating with my Dungeon family alongside [AJ Styles],” Natalya posted. “AJ gave us all the answers to the test… and then some. He got in there, wrestled, pushed us, and shared his knowledge with everyone in the room.

“He’s truly one of the greatest wrestlers of our generation, and honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday gift. Learning. Growing. Being challenged. Feeling inspired all over again to keep chasing my wildest dreams and to never stop striving for greatness.”

Sessions at The Dungeon are attended by up-and-coming wrestlers as well as TV names who are looking to work on things. WWE’s Ilja Dragunov, who is there regularly, was among those in attendance this week.

AJ Styles’ post-retirement WWE role —

Styles had his final match this January, was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in April, and now works for the company in a behind-the-scenes capacity. His exact role isn’t fully set in stone, but Styles has enjoyed working in recruitment and helping out with the WWE ID development program. Because he has so much experience on the indies, that has been a natural fit for Styles.

Wednesday also saw John Cena, a WWE ambassador in his post-retirement life, spend some time with wrestlers at the WWE Performance Center.

Liv Morgan, Jacob Fatu and more WWE stars discuss impact of training at The Dungeon 

Posted on by Rosanne Raphael

Liv Morgan and other WWE stars shared their experiences and learnings at The Dungeon 2.0 owned by Natalya and TJ Wilson. 

Natalya shared a video on X featuring training sessions at The Dungeon. 

“My grandfather built The Dungeon on heart and grit and finding out who could get knocked down and get back up. I love being able to carry forward what he started with a new generation.” tweeted Natalya. 

In the video, Liv Morgan, Ilja Dragunov, Jacob Fatu and B-Fab shared their experiences training at the center and how it has altered and influenced their wrestling styles. 

Morgan: “I feel like when I started coming, that’s when I really noticed improvements in my wrestling and my performances. You know, just practicing something gives you the confidence that you’re doing better, even if you’re not improving yet. You know what I mean? So just me coming here every single week and spending three hours, it’s like old school sh*t. You just get down to work.”

Dragunov: “First of all, the dungeon has a very big place in my heart because after my ACL tear, I definitely was looking out for a place where I can prepare myself for my comeback, and I picked The Dungeon for it because i have a lot of respect for what TJ and Nattie are putting into the business.”

Fatu: “TJ’s just always boosting me up, always just teaching me the right things, but also since Natalya, man, as soon as I’m up in there, she ain’t giving me the superstar treatment or she ain’t giving me none of that just because I’m on TV. She actually pushes me. It’s something that I need.” 

B-Fab: “Being able to be here and just work on stuff, work on stuff that I’m working on, try new stuff, like just be able to just open myself up, make the ring my canvas, and just paint whatever I want to paint, as well as getting, you know, a good foundation built in, being able to remember things, so many great things we get from coming to the Dungeon.”

Over the years, The Dungeon has had several wrestlers across promotions to hone their in-ring skills. Last year, John Cena visited the training camp to impart wisdom about the industry and knowledge he picked up during his wrestling career.

Natalya has often emphasized the Dungeon is not just another wrestling school but rather her and Wilson’s ‘love letter to wrestling’.

John Cena praises Natalya, Tyson Kidd after Dungeon visit

Posted on by Joseph Currier

John Cena had kind words for WWE couple Natalya and TJ Wilson (Tyson Kidd) after attending a training session at their Dungeon facility.

On Wednesday night, Cena visited the Dungeon — a training ring Natalya and Wilson have in Florida where other wrestlers can come and practice. He posted a brief tweet today commenting on the experience and praising the husband-and-wife duo for their dedication to pro wrestling.

“The brilliance, ability & generosity of @TJWilson & @natbynature is astounding,” Cena wrote. “The Dungeon’s existence shows how dedicated my two friends are to the industry we love. Dungeon’s Rules – INVITE ONLY COST $0.00 fees are paid in passion & ‘hustle’. FLAKE OUT, invite revoked. All they ask is all any audience asks … give everything you have.”

“Thank you, @JohnCena. You understand the Dungeon the way my grandfather Stu Hart intended it to be—real, raw, and rooted in passion, hustle, and love for the game,” Natalya responded. “What you brought to our practice was a storytelling masterclass and a reminder of what greatness looks like. Truly surreal.”

Ilja Dravunov, Maxxine Dupri, B-Fab, and Angelo Dawkins were among a big group of wrestlers who also attended the Wednesday night session. The facility is named after the legendary Dungeon where Stu Hart trained wrestlers at the Hart House in Canada.

In addition to this visit, Cena stopped by the WWE Performance Center twice recently to spend time with the up-and-coming talent.

Cena only has four WWE appearances left on his retirement tour. His last Boston appearance will take place on the November 10 edition of Raw. He’ll then head to New York City for the final time for Raw at Madison Square Garden on November 17.

After that, Cena will compete at Survivor Series on November 29 and then have his final match at Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13. WWE is running a tournament to decide who will be his last-ever opponent, with Gunther rumored to be the most likely option.

Samoa Joe names Tyson Kidd injury as ‘largest regret’ of his career

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Nearly a decade after the accident that ended Tyson Kidd’s in-ring career, Samoa Joe is still sick over what happened.

Kidd (TJ Wilson) suffered the career-ending spinal cord injury while taking a Muscle Buster from Joe in a WWE dark match in June 2015. Though it altered the course of his life, Kidd is lucky that he survived the injury and is not paralyzed. He remains with WWE as a producer and is highly praised for the work he does behind the scenes, especially helping agent matches for the women’s division.

The injury was a freak accident, but Joe told Chris Van Vliet that it remains the biggest regret of his career.

“To this day that probably remains the largest regret in my career,” Joe said on a new episode of Insight. “You know, just that that happened.”

Van Vliet pointed out that there is nothing he could have done differently, but Joe doesn’t think that matters.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t change things for Tyson,” Joe responded. “Doesn’t change things for a guy who is probably one of the most passionate people in the world of professional wrestling. For a guy who has an amazing mind for it. Like, really, WWE is fortunate to have him in their employ. Because even though he’s not in a physical role within the company, the finishes, his ability to put together matches and be a producer and agent — unparalleled.”

In the moment, the spot where Kidd got hurt didn’t feel any different to Joe. He only realized something was wrong when he saw that Cesaro (Claudio Castagnoli) was concerned.

“No, not at all. No. Didn’t feel any different. It’s just when I turned around and went for the pin and got back up, the only thing that even hinted that there’s something wrong is when Cesaro looked back up at me,” Joe said. “And I know when Cesaro is concerned and then I was like, ‘Oh my God, I hope everything is ok.’ Then we got in the back and he went to the hospital and everything got checked out. But, I mean, the whole circumstances regarding that and everything, it makes me sick to this day that that guy is not out there being the Tyson Kidd that I know that he is. He’s an amazing human being, you know what I mean… He’s a guy that, he has a great understanding of a larger picture. And, once again, when you talk about guys who are really great finish men, guys who can produce, he’s going to be heralded as one of the dudes here — if he isn’t already now.”

Kidd has said he has “zero animosity” toward Joe after the injury and wishes him nothing but the best.

Joe departed WWE in 2022 and is currently with AEW, where he is a former World Champion for the promotion.

TJ Wilson returns to work as WWE producer

Posted on by Josh Nason

After taking some time off to heal a neck injury, TJ Wilson (the former Tyson Kidd) has reportedly returned to work as a WWE producer.

PWInsider reported the news Thursday, saying Wilson returned this past Monday on Raw in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, after several months off. He has been a producer with WWE since June 2017.

In February, Dave Meltzer reported that the 41-year-old Wilson was still with WWE despite a report otherwise and was taking time to rehab his career-ending neck injury suffered in a match with Samoa Joe in June 2015.

At the time, he wrote, “Within the company, there was word that he was quitting weeks ago but we were told that was miscommunication, he would be back and he’s on good terms with WWE. He’s taking time off to help heal up his neck. If you recall, his neck issues were such (basically the same injury as the late Christopher Reeve) that he was very lucky to be alive and it’s an absolute miracle he’s not confined to a wheelchair. The fact he’s able to function well doesn’t change that his neck is in terrible shape and can flare up.”

Wilson’s wife, Natalya, will team with Shayna Baszler in a four-way for the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles at night one of WWE WrestleMania 38.

TJ Wilson still working in WWE, taking time off to heal neck

Posted on by Josh Nason

In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer wrote that former WWE wrestler and current producer TJ Wilson is still with the company.

Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp recently reported he had heard Wilson (aka Tyson Kidd) was no longer with WWE but after following up, others said he was still there “technically.” He said that several women contacted for the women’s Royal Rumble turned down the opportunity to be in the match when they learned Wilson wasn’t producing it.

Meltzer wrote, “Within the company, there was word that he was quitting weeks ago but we were told that was miscommunication, he would be back and he’s on good terms with WWE. He’s taking time off to help heal up his neck. If you recall, his neck issues were such (basically the same injury as the late Christopher Reeve) that he was very lucky to be alive and it’s an absolute miracle he’s not confined to a wheelchair. The fact he’s able to function well doesn’t change that his neck is in terrible shape and can flare up.”

He started as a full-time producer in June 2017.

The 41-year-old Wilson (aka Tyson Kidd) hasn’t wrestled since June 2015 due to a neck injury suffered in a dark match with Samoa Joe on Joe’s muscle buster finisher. 

In a 2015 interview with Slam, Wilson said he doesn’t blame Joe and the two became friends through the process. He thought he didn’t position his hands right when he took the move which may have caused the injury.